Moore rules but Derby is ‘just the beginning’ for Libertarian

THE 67-year wait for a Yorkshire winner of the Investec Derby goes on – but Elaine and Karl Burke can anticipate many big race successes after their fast-finishing Libertarian narrowly failed to overhaul the aptly-named Ruler Of The World in Flat racing’s iconic contest at Epsom.

The best result ever achieved by a female trainer in the Derby’s 233-year history, and 100 years after suffragette Emily Davison was killed when struck by the King’s horse, the Irish Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Ladbrokes St Leger and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – Europe’s richest race – are now probable targets.

“He’s an awesome horse with a great constitution,” the trainer’s husband and assistant Karl told the Yorkshire Post. “You wouldn’t believe it but he was yawning going around the parade ring before the Derby.

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“You’ve never seen anything like it. We will look at the Irish Derby in four weeks time – we will have to supplement him – but we will see how he is. The King George, St Leger and the Arc, all these races are up for discussion.

“We’re just pleased he justified our faith. It’s been a great team effort at Spigot Lodge. It’s amazing, the whole Emily Davison anniversary and the licence in Elaine’s name, all the little pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.

“It is a cliche but the best is still to come for this horse. He’s only run in four races. There’s nothing to say he won’t be even better next year. We are just enjoying the moment.

“I’m just watching him now have a pick of grass and he’s fine. The lads had some spare feed on the horse box home and he had that, and he ate up at his stable on Saturday night.”

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This was a compelling race watched by 120,000 spectators on Epsom Downs – a 10th win for the world-famous Ballydoyle stables, a fourth for training genius Aidan O’Brien and a second for the poker-faced Ryan Moore, a brilliant jockey and tactician who showed uncharacteristic emotion after crossing the finishing line.

Just like each of the 12 jockeys in the Derby field, he knew the heavily-backed favourite Dawn Approach was beaten after just 100 yards when a slight bump unsettled the 2000 Guineas winner and Kevin Manning was just a passenger as the horse pulled his way to front before running out of oomph and finishing a remote last.

Tucked behind Ruler Of The World was William Buick on 14-1 shot Libertarian, a giant, laid back horse who handled the climb to the summit Tattenham Hill, and then the sharp downhill run into the home straight, better than many had forecast.

Yet, as Battle Of Marengo – one of five Aidan O’Brien runners – led the field into the home straight, the race was won and lost in a split-second. As Ruler Of The World, the 7-1 third favourite, responded instantaneously to Moore’s urgings, and emphatically chased down his pace-setting stablemate to take up the running at the two furlong pole, it took 100 yards for Libertarian to respond.

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Once he did, his acceleration was so striking that his pink, red, white and orange colours of Danish owner Hubert Strecker were missed by most race commentators as Libertarian flashed past Galileo Rock and Battle Of Marengo to snatch second on the line.

A rapidly diminishing one and a half lengths behind the winner, Libertarian still earned nearly £300,000 – the biggest sum ever landed by a Burke-trained horse.

The aftermath was immediately dominated by how the five-strong Ballydoyle battalion surprised everyone by ensuring that the race was run at a pedestrian speed to neuter Dawn Approach and his visibly shellshocked connections.

Dawn Approach – whose father New Approach had won the 2008 Derby and sired Libertarian – will drop back in trip to a mile amid reports that Sheikh Mohammed had insisted that the favourite ran at Epsom against the wishes of his co-owner Jim Bolger who also trains the horse.

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“It didn’t work for us. There will be another day. He’s not just a good horse, he’s a champion,” said a defiant Bolger.

In contrast, the response of the Libertarian camp was more measured. They were unsure whether to celebrate a brilliant second or rue a Derby that could have been won if the pace had been faster so the three-year-old colt, trained at Spigot Lodge stables near Leyburn, was not momentarily caught flat-footed when Ruler Of The World accelerated. “He ran great but inexperience told. He is a very good horse – possibly the best horse in that race,” said Buick who had ridden Libertarian to victory in York’s Betfred Dante Stakes last month.

“The Ballydoyle runners got the favourite in trouble and the uneven pace didn’t help my boy. He was a bit green and was just caught out coming into the home straight. He’s a big horse. I know he wasn’t great round the track, but it was only his fourth run.”

Asked if Libertarian could beat Ruler Of The World in a rematch in the Irish Derby at The Curragh on a galloping track, Buick was adamant. “Definitely,” he said.

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The one obstacle could be the Northern Racing College graduate’s availability – he only became available for the Dante and Derby rides because his boss John Gosden, the champion trainer, surprisingly did not have any runners in these two big races.

Burke says Libertarian will only travel to The Curragh if the horse is sound – and no decision will be taken until a week beforehand.

The publican’s son said that Libertarian could also seek Classic glory in the St Leger, with any Arc bid against Europe’s elite delayed until 2014 when the colt will be more mature and streetwise.

Like Ruler Of The World who was named by Magnier’s wife Sue because of his prowess as a foal, Libertarian also did not race as a two-year-old and his owner now wants his £40,000 bargain buy to fulfil his potential on the racetrack before a career at stud. He is thinking long-term after just failing to emulate Middleham’s 1945 Derby winner Dante.

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“When we got him, we thought we had a nice, raw horse who could be a staying type but he keeps on getting better. He’s come on so much in the past three months,” added Burke. “The Derby is just the beginning.”